Before the 1975 took the stage last night in the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, a drone
emanated from the PA, almost imperceptible at first and seemingly one note. A looped guitar tone or
perhaps a minimalist composition from the ’70s, it grew in complexity and volume until it became
nearly unbearable.

Whether the band would punctuate the drama or merely make the noise go away, it risked being
beaten by the buildup as it began.

With
The City, though, the energy only built. After the second song, in fact, the pandemonium
in front became so intense that singer Matthew Healy called a halt until everyone moved back and
cooled off.

If the crowd behaved more safely thereafter, it only got more manic. Indeed, the show rode the
thrill of witnessing a band that is going to be huge find its footing and revel in it. Healy, whose
group will open for the Rolling Stones this summer, gushed that the show — moved from the Newport
to the larger LC early on — was its “biggest ever outside England.”

Finding the source of that exploding appeal is a little tricky, outside the singer’s magnetic
attraction. Flinging his out-grown Mohawk while dancing in spasms, Healy has a flouncy charisma,
one with the broad sexual appeal of a rock star.

The band is traveling on the strength of just one album and a few singles, so the variety in its
’80s-recalling pop is narrow. But benefiting from the distance from its stylistic hallmarks, the
Manchester band is free to mix at will.

So Haircut 100 sidled up to New Order last night; Big Country ran with Prince. If
She Way Out suggested hip-hop, the tune before echoed the Talking Heads.

Performing before the 1975, California’s Bad Suns drew more from contemporary indie pop, with a
sound still developing that intermittently struck an original chord with
Salt and
Cardiac Arrest.